Pata Honda looks forward to return to Italy

The Pata Honda team returns to Italy this weekend (20-22 June) for round seven and the halfway point of the 2014 World Superbike championship at Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’.

The 4.226km circuit missed out on the 2013 SBK calendar but it has traditionally been a regular World Superbike venue, hosting 21 rounds since 1991. Set near the Adriatic resort of Rimini in north-east Italy, it has always been a popular event for riders and fans alike.

Misano, which represents another ‘home’ round for the team’s title partner, Italian snack manufacturer Pata, is a particular favourite of Jonathan Rea who scored his first World Superbike championship win there during his debut season on Honda’s CBR machine in 2009.

The 27-year-old, who currently sits third in the championship standings, finished second in race two in 2012, the last time World Superbikes visited Misano, and is hopeful of a return to the form that saw him take a double victory at Imola in Italy in May.

Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam has also visited the Misano podium on two occasions in the past and the 31-year-old British rider plans to mount a determined challenge on his first visit riding the latest SP incarnation of Honda’s CBR1000RR Fireblade.